ES2384795B2 - GASTROINTESTINAL ELECTRONIC PILL. - Google Patents

Abstract

Gastrointestinal electronic pill protected by a biocompatible external capsule resistant to the environment of the digestive system comprising a light source (4); dividing means (5) of the light beam directing it to the reference arm (6) and the sampling arm (9); an adaptive group delay element (24) according to the distance of the tissue to be analyzed; optical displacement means (7) that move the intersection of the light beam (30) of the sampling arm (9) over the tissue; an optical system (8) that focuses the light beam (30) of the sampling arm (9) on the tissue; interfering means (10) that produce interference between the reflected light; a detector (11) that receives said interference; processing means (2) that process the information acquired by the detector (11); and feeding means (3) that feed the pill without physical connection to the outside.

Description

GASTROINTESTINAL ELECTRONIC PILL

Field of the Invention

The present invention is encompassed within the field of devices for the investigation of the gastrointestinal tract by tomographic methods, preferably by optical coherence tomography.

Background of the invention

Traditional colonoscopy causes a lot of discomfort and discomfort to the patient. There are capsules in the state of the art capable of traveling through the digestive tract while acquiring information from it and sending it to an external recipient. For example, the Heidelberg capsule is capable of measuring the pH level, while the device described in patent W00165995 acquires images of the walls inside the tract. In both cases the information is sent wirelessly to an external receiver. However, the aforementioned antecedents lack high-resolution sectional information, which is important to be able to study the histology of the tissue and therefore issue an adequate diagnosis. Thus, although they allow the identification and visual detection of polyps and other risk structures, they still require a subsequent biopsy, limiting their usefulness.

This need has been identified several times in the literature. US patent application 2005/0096526 A 1 describes a gastrointestinal capsule where the image element is orientable. Although this application focuses on traditional photographic image forming systems, it raises the possibility of using an alternative image forming element, including means of acquiring tomographic information. However, the request only expresses the desire to solve the problem object of this invention, and at no time discloses the means to achieve it.

US patent application 2007/0142708 A1 mentions the introduction of an ultrasound oscillator into a gastrointestinal capsule for imaging. This technology, an alternative in some applications to optical coherence tomography, has determining limitations for integration into a gastrointestinal pill. The ultrasonic oscillator provides lower spatial resolution, needs a transfer medium that adapts acoustic impedances and uses a more voluminous instrumentation. Moreover, the application does not describe the integration of ultrasound imaging technology in a gastrointestinal pill.

Patent application WO 2008/012701 A 1 describes a gastrointestinal video capsule with a variable lens system that allows orienting light beams from light sources for the generation of images in combination with an image sensor. This application includes an exemplary application of the invention in which it is used for an optical coherence tomography system insofar as it is integrable, in the future, into a gastrointestinal capsule. The application recognizes the interest of obtaining tomographic information but does not describe any solution.

JP 2004 / 243034A describes how to integrate a full-field OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) system using a Mirau interferometer. By its very nature, it is based on free space optical components and is incompatible with the use of integrated optics. An important limitation of this invention is that a Mirau interferometer such as that described offers a very difficult application in a situation of variable distance to the object, since it requires adjusting various opto-mechanical elements in a range comparable to that of the desired scan; a range of distances comparable to the dimensions of the pill (10-20mm) is unattainable in practice and the document itself recognizes that the maximum distance covered by the axial scan is 1-2mm. As a result of the inability of the system to adjust its scanning range beyond 1-2mm, the invention described in JP 2004-243034 is reduced to creating lateral images of the sample, and therefore cannot obtain images of the intestinal tract full. Another important limitation of this invention is that the optical image must coincide with the field of view of the Mirau interferometer. This second field of vision must be small to obtain the microscopic resolution characteristic of the OCT technique that provides histological information. However, the lateral macroscopic size of the lesion and its surroundings, if they are to be visualized for diagnostic purposes, may be orders of magnitude greater than the field of view of the interferometer.

All these limitations make the invention described in JP 2004-243034 very difficult to implement and seriously compromise the potential diagnostic value of optical coherence tomography in this application.

It was therefore desirable a gastrointestinal pill that integrated an image acquisition system using OCT, which could be adapted to work at different distances to the sample. A pill of these characteristics would be able to obtain tomographic information of the entire intestinal tract, and by combining the OCT system with a video equipment it would be possible to offer the doctor, not only the video information, how other existing pills do, but also the tomographic information of the structures that appear in the video, providing a virtual biopsy that could avoid the need for real biopsies.

Description of the invention

The invention is aimed at resolving both the limitations of the state of the art and the serious discomforts and morbidity of digestive endoscopy procedures for the patient, minimizing the number of associated biopsy interventions. The procedures that could lead to qualitative progress are esophagogastroduodenoscopy, rectosigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy, retrograde endoscopic cholangiopancreatography or enteroscopy. Especially in the latter cases, the difficulties for standard endoscopic access make the search for alternatives for diagnosis especially recommended.

The invention describes a gastrointestinal pill that integrates an OCT system capable of adapting its working range over a wide range of distances to the object (up to several centimeters) and whose lateral scan volume can be chosen and varied over a wide range of areas within the field of view of a focus optic, decoupling the scanning area of the OCT and the general field of view of that optic.

The invention also describes ways of integrating the OCT system with a video system, whose field of vision coincides with the general optics, but which is independent of the area swept by the OCT system at all times. Additionally, methods are described so that, if desired, the relative position of both is recorded. The invention also shows implementation solutions based on integrated optics that demonstrate that the invention is achievable in the compact size that is required in a gastrointestinal pill. With respect to non-tomographic imaging systems, the present invention offers the advantage of being able to obtain axial information combined with the video image, which is of great diagnostic value, being able to avoid real biopsies.

The invention comprises a biocompatible external capsule capable of resisting the chemical environment of the digestive system, information acquisition means, processing means and power supply means in an ultra-compact implementation of a high resolution tomographic imaging system. The processing means can send the collected information to an external system for study and analysis, although they can also include an internal storage unit. The pill can be fed through an inductive link or otherwise (by means of a battery, for example).

The information acquisition means comprise a tomographic imaging system using Optical Coherence Tomography constructed using planar technology and solid state components. This system comprises light sources, detectors and integrated optics elements organized according to one of the many configurations used for optical coherence tomography. In contrast to what is used in the state of the art, the invention does not perform full-field OCT but beam scanning OCT. The scanning beam OCT is necessary to be able to use guided optics and in particular integrated optics. The use of integrated optics has numerous advantages: manufacturing cost, system compactness, reliability and durability; The manufacturing cost and the compactness of the system are due to the decreasing marginal costs and the high integration density of the planar manufacturing techniques, while the reliability and durability are due to the minimization of moving elements and electromechanical components.

The sampling arm of the optical coherence tomography system is connected to electromechanical means that allow moving the point of intersection of the light beam with the surface of the tissue to be analyzed. The pill allows to move the point of intersection of the beam of light with the surface of the tissue in a large volume of work. The angular variation of the beam direction can be performed using MEMS elements (Micro Electro-Mechanical System) or other electromechanical devices to produce the movement of some optical component in the path of the beam. The system would include a set of fixed or preferably variable focus lenses to focus the light beam on the desired tissue area. In the case of a fixed focus, the work volume is limited to a range of distances pre-established by the optical design. In the case of the use of variable optics, a wide range of working distances can be accessed, which is preferable. OCT's own high-speed side scan can be implemented with the same MEMS components or other electro-mechanical devices used to orient the beam over the area of interest of the tissue.

The OCT system will preferably be combined with video equipment based on a solid state sensor. For this, it is possible to use a beam separation system, for example, depending on the wavelengths of the light that make up the beam, with a possible simple implementation based on a dichroic mirror that reflects the wavelength range used through the optical coherence tomography system to it and let another wavelength range pass to the video equipment. Alternatively, said beam separation system may be based on a partially reflective mirror.

The video equipment will be used to relate the tomographic information with the macroscopic anatomical structures analyzed. Preferably the OCT system and the video equipment will be linked to accurately locate in the video image the position of the volume studied by the OCT system. If the wavelength of the beam used by the OCT system is detectable by the CCD / CMOS (Charge Coupled Device / Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) sensor of the video equipment (in silicon for wavelengths less than 1000nm) and is designed the beam separation system in such a way as to allow the partial passage of the OCT wavelengths towards said sensor, the position of the OCT beam could be immediately evident in the image when the light scattered in the OCT scanning area is collected by the optical video system and detected in the image sensor as a brighter area.

Otherwise, if, for example, wavelengths longer than those detectable by the video equipment sensor are used for the OCT system, or strict filtering of the video equipment and the optical coherence tomography system is chosen, or simply preferred for any reason, a mechanical calibration of the electromechanical means that orient the beam can be made, so that in combination with the object distance of the fixed or variable focus lens can calculate the spatial range covered by the system OCT regarding the image collected by the video equipment.

The sensor and the video image processing electronics can be included in the same substrate in which the waveguides and other planar optics elements are manufactured for the optical coherence tomography system, or they can be made in another separate substrate of the same.

The video system may have an appropriate wavelength illumination for the excitation of different fluorescence phenomena in the tissue and be accompanied by suitable filters that suppress said excitation wavelengths. In this way, it is possible to register the areas of the tissue with fluorescence emission to provide diagnostic information complementary to the histological information obtained with the optical coherence tomography.

To the extent that it is intended that the system operates free from degradation due to the chromatic dispersion of the material used for its implementation, it is necessary to balance it in the two arms (reference and sampling) in such a way that the resulting interference pattern is solely determined by the source bandwidth. The same can be said of the birefringence potentially inherent in the chosen waveguide technology. If it is not perfectly canceled in the manufacturing process, it is necessary to equalize it in both arms.

At the same time, in order to cover a wide range of depths of focus, a reference arm must be used that is adaptable in length beyond what is required to create the OCT image. In particular, the OCT image has a typical depth of 1-2mm, while the desired focus distance range is a few centimeters. In the invention this is achieved by switching in the integrated optical system the internal paths of the reference and / or sampling arm between waveguides of different physical lengths.

However, as mentioned, this poses problems in integrated OCT systems, since technologies with more common active elements, such as silicon, tend to be relatively dispersive and birefringent. Consequently, making the difference in average length during the scan between the reference arm and the sampling arm in the material different from zero leads to problems of resolution in the final system, by loosening the chromatic dispersion between arms.

The above problem can be solved in different ways. A first way is to use an active element to compensate for dispersion in one of the arms. Said active element can be based on dispersive designs such as photonic crystals or Bragg diffraction networks with variable spacing, but it can also make use of waveguide segments that, due to their characteristics, for example, geometric or material, have a chromatic dispersion fail it. In the design of this active element, special attention must be paid to the bandwidth on the one hand, and the higher orders of the chromatic dispersion on the other. Acting on the dispersion coefficients in their different orders by changes in the index of refraction of the material, for example, through the thermo-optical or injection effects of load carriers, it is possible to adjust the working point of the active element and compensate for the chromatic dispersion induced.

Certainly, these elements also affect the group delay, competing with the physical change in the effective length of the arms, so that its design must be correctly balanced with the physical lengths to obtain the desired total delay differences.

Another mode of resolution is to implement the devices in a hybrid technology that combines active materials such as silicon with low dispersion and / or birefringence materials such as silicon (oxy) nitride or silicon oxide. If the combination of these technologies in a single process turns out to be technically too complex or not desired for economic or other reasons, it is possible to make use of a solution based on two different substrates, with an active element and another passive one that simply includes an array of guides finished in reflectors with different physical lengths. It is also possible to think about the coupling of an array of discrete fibers with different lengths and finished in a reflector to the substrate on which the optical coherence tomography system is manufactured.

Additionally, the invention may include means for estimating the position of the pill within the body in order to facilitate the subsequent interpretation of the information collected. The estimation of the position of the pill can be done using different techniques of location and navigation in-vivo, including the use of triangulation from an electromagnetic signal transmitted from inside the capsule or by the external generation of magnetic fields detected in the capsule.

Another option to estimate the position of the pill is to include in the device some type of motion sensor, such as accelerometers or gyroscopes, in order to provide information related to the movement of the device and thus be able, for example, to start the image acquisition when detecting that the device moves.

Therefore, the electronic gastrointestinal pill protected by a biocompatible external capsule resistant to the environment of the digestive system includes:

-

at least one source of light;

-

dividing means configured to divide the beam of light from

the light source and direct it to the reference arm and the sampling arm;

-

an adaptive group delay element according to the distance of the tissue to

analyze, located in at least one of the arms;

-

optical displacement means configured to move the intersection of the light beam of the sampling arm on the tissue to be analyzed; - an optical system configured to focus the beam of light from the arm of

sampling on the tissue surface to be analyzed; -a interfering means configured to produce interference between the reflected light from the reference and sampling arms; -at least one detector that receives such interference between the light coming from the reference and sampling arms; -a processing means configured to process the information acquired by the detector; -a power means configured to electrically power the pill without physical connection to the outside.

The adaptive group delay element may comprise at least one optical switch that chooses one from a plurality of optical paths where said optical paths introduce distinct and previously set group delays.

Additionally, said adaptive group delay element can interact with the optical system to jointly adjust the group delay and focus distance.

Preferably, the pill will comprise an active element for compensating the chromatic dispersion in at least one of the arms, selected from:

- photonic crystals; - Bragg diffraction networks with variable spacing; - waveguide segments whose characteristics cause a dispersion

abnormal color. The show and reference arms may share at least part of the same physical path.

The processing means may comprise a storage unit configured to store the information processed by the processing means.

Preferably, the processing means will comprise a communications unit configured to send the information processed by the processing means to an external communication device and to receive instructions from said external communication device.

Preferably, the optical displacement means will comprise

electromechanical means configured to move the point of intersection of the light beam with the surface of the tissue to be analyzed. Preferably, the pill will comprise video equipment configured to capture images of the tissue from the environment of the pill.

The optical system may comprise a beam separation system based on its wavelength, which directs the range of wavelengths used by the optical coherence tomography system towards it and another range of wavelengths towards the equipment video.

Additionally, the pill may comprise identifying means configured to locate the position of the beam of light coming out of the sampling arm of the optical coherence tomography system in the image obtained by the video equipment.

The identifying means can interact with the optical displacement means and with the optical system to orient the position of the beam of light coming out of the sampling arm from the instructions received by the external communications device.

The video equipment can comprise optical filters according to the wavelength and a complementary light source that allow to capture the fluorescence from the pill tissue.

Preferably, the pill will comprise a motion sensor that provides information relative to the movement of the pill. The pill may comprise a position sensor that provides information regarding the position of the pill.

The concept of integrated optical coherence tomography in a substrate is possible through the integration in planar technology of one of the fundamental elements for OCT, such as the fast scan variable delay line, making use of the thermo-optical effect of silicon. Due to this integration and the developments of this invention, it is possible to conceive an integrable OCT system within a gastrointestinal pill. Other implementations of optical coherence tomography, such as frequency domain, may also be subject to miniaturization using integrated optics using diffraction networks based on waveguide gratings. Likewise, systems based on source scanning using solid-state sources of variable frequency can be integrated in accordance with the developments of this invention.

The present invention provides a solution to a non-existent functionality to date, allows to obtain tomographic information on potentially neoplastic tissue in a non-invasive way and with a minimum of discomfort and risks for the patient.

The implementation of the invention would mean that the health institutions made an investment, however, the reuse of the pills and the equipment they need would enhance the profitability of the required investment. The implementation would also require an intensification of the human factor dedicated to the manipulation of the device due to the high volume of data produced. This volume of data can be controlled by proper planning using image acquisition methods to limit the operating time and properly select the regions in which the data is obtained. Additionally, it is possible to acquire tomographic data autonomously or semi-autonomously and apply filtering algorithms to reduce the amount of information acquired that has to be processed manually. If the acquisition is automatic, it is possible to associate and subordinate the tomographic information to the video information, so that the doctor can choose the sections to be studied from the observation of the video recording.

Brief description of the drawings

A series of drawings that help to better understand the invention and that expressly relate to an embodiment of said invention which is presented as a non-limiting example thereof is described very briefly below.

Figure 1 shows a plan view of the electronic gastrointestinal pill.

Figure 2 shows a section of the electronic gastrointestinal pill.

Figure 3 shows a section of the electronic gastrointestinal pill, where the feeding means have been replaced by inductive bonding by a battery.

Figure 4 shows the electronic pill during use, directing and focusing the beam of light that is used to obtain tomographic images on the tissue to be investigated.

Figure 5 shows an embodiment of an adaptive delay element in which two switches direct the light of an input guide to an output guide by means of one, from a plurality, of intermediate guides characterized each of those intermediate guides by delays Fixed different.

Figure 6 shows the location of the tomographic image on the video image, linking the high resolution tomographic information with the macroscopic video image.

Detailed description of one embodiment

Figures 1, 2 and 3 show views of a pill whose means of acquiring information 1, configured to obtain tomographic information of the tissue of the environment of the pill by means of emission and reception of oscillatory disturbances, comprise an optical coherence tomography system, content inside the outer capsule 25 surrounding the gastrointestinal pill. This capsule 25 must be biocompatible and part of it transparent to the waves used to favor its transmission and reception by the means of acquiring information 1. In Figs. 1 and 2 there are shown feeding means 3 based on a coil whose function is the Pill power supply, producing an induced current from an alternating magnetic field generated externally to the device. The presence of several orientations of the coils would favor the constancy of the power supply regardless of the physical orientation of the capsule in relation to the field, although this is not strictly necessary. The coils can also be part of the communication unit 13 of the pill. In this sense, the external magnetic field can be modulated to transmit information to the pill, and the link can become bidirectional if some of the known techniques are applied to this effect, such as load shift keying modulation. Send information to an external system. Alternatively, the communication unit of the pill can use a transmission and reception channel other than the inductive link.

The figures also show an optical coherence tomography system implemented by means of integrated optics on a substrate 22. The light, coming from a compact light source 4, as a solid state source (for example, a superluminescent diode or SLD by its acronym in English), it is led to a dividing means 5, in figure 1 a 50:50 coupler, which divides the light into two arms, one of reference 6 and another of sampling 9.

The reference arm 6 includes, in this elementary mode of implementation in the time domain, an ultra-compact thermo-optic delay line 16 that provides the axial scan. Other configurations of OCT systems would be possible as is well known (frequency domain, source sweep, etc.). In the reference arm 6 an adaptive group delay element 24 is also shown which allows the interferometer to be adjusted for a wide range of distances in the sampling arm 9, corresponding to different distances to the tissue to be investigated. At the end of the reference arm 6 we find a reflector 23 that sends the light back through said arm 6.

The light from the sampling arm 9 is sent to optical displacement means 7 which have the function of displacing the intersection of the light beam 30 from the sampling arm 9 with the tissue to be analyzed. In the system shown in the figures, the optical displacement means 7 consist of means to collimate the light leaving the sampling arm 9, for example some kind of compact lens such as those based on index gradient 17 (GRIN), which they direct the collimated beam towards a moving mirror 18, shown in the figure with an implementation using MEMS microfabrication techniques. Said movable mirror 18, in addition to orienting the beam 30 on the point of interest in the fabric, can also provide the side scan that complements the axial scan to obtain tomographic images. The light reflected in the moving mirror 18 is then directed to an optical system 8 which aims to orient and focus the beam 30 on the tissue. In the system represented in the figures said optical system 8 consists of a beam separation system 19, such as a dichroic mirror or a semi-reflective mirror, which receives the collimated beam from the moving mirror 18 and which in turn reflects the beam towards a lens 20, which focuses on the tissue to be studied. The use of the dichroic mirror is intended to direct the range of wavelengths detected by video equipment 14 towards the same and another range of wavelengths to the optical coherence tomography system, thus allowing both to share the optical system 8 without loss of power. A semi-reflective mirror achieves the same effect, but optical power is lost. The lens 20 (or lens system) will preferably be of variable focus to offer a wide range of working distances. This capability can be provided by mobile optical elements, or by focal length lenses adjustable by other means, such as liquid crystals, electro-dampening, etc.

The focus adjustment would preferably be automatic and can preferably be done in combination with the delay adjustment introduced by the adaptive group delay element 24 in the reference arm 6, since both are related to the distance to the tissue to be analyzed. The recording of these distances for different angular directions results in the construction of a topography of the tissue surface, which can also be transmitted to the outside and presented to the user as an element of potential diagnostic value.

The reflected light coming from the tissue is collected again by this lens 20 and is directed again towards the sampling arm 9 in the integrated optics substrate 22, reversing the path previously traveled. The two light components, from the reference and sampling arm 6, respectively, are mixed by the interfering means 10, which in this implementation coincide with the dividing means 5, and the resulting signal is detected in the detector 11. The electronic processing means 2, which include a storage unit 12 and a communications unit 13, can be implemented in the same substrate 22 used for integrated optics, if the manufacturing technology processes so advise, as illustrated in the figures, or it can be produced on a separate substrate. A side view is shown in Figure 2 in which the position of the video equipment 14, placed behind the beam separation system can be seen

19. Video equipment 14 will include tissue illumination means in the visible spectrum in order to form a suitable image on the sensor. The image sensor may in principle also be part of the substrate 22 in which the waveguides and other planar optics elements of the optical coherence tomography system are manufactured, especially if the manufacturing technology is compatible with integrated electronics production processes , with a positive impact on the final pill size.

Figure 3 replaces the inductive link coils with a battery to implement the feeding means 3 of the pill. The communications unit 13 would not be carried out in this implementation by means of the inductive link, but would need an alternative route, such as a radio frequency link.

Figure 4 shows the pill during use at a point in the digestive tract where there is a tissue of interest to analyze. The pill guides and focuses the OCT beam on that area, producing high resolution tomographic images.

Figure 5 shows an embodiment of an adaptive delay element based on optical switches 31 preferably implemented by integrated optics. These optical switches 31 can be performed using multimode interference devices (MMI), or a cascade of operable directional couplers. The figure shows two switching elements capable of directing the light of an input guide towards an intermediate guide between several, characterized by fixed and different group delays, and in turn from said intermediate guide to an output guide symmetrically . Waveguide segments with different group delays can be obtained, for example, by

5 waveguides of different length.

Figure 6 shows the process of locating the scanned area in the video image. This process provides a link between the high resolution tomographic image and the macroscopic video image. To establish this link, the pill must have means 15 identifying the position of the light beam used

10 for OCT in video image coordinates. In this way, the beam position can be indicated on the video image at all times. As mentioned before, the identifying means 15 may consist of a calibration of the electromechanical elements that move the beam in the optical displacement means 7 and of the optical system 8, in position sensors of the

15 optical elements responsible for scanning the light beam, or in the direct detection of the position of the beam on the image sensor.

Once the invention is clearly described, it is noted that the particular embodiments described above are subject to modifications in detail as long as they do not alter the fundamental principle and essence of the invention.

Claims (15)

one.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill characterized by being protected by a biocompatible external capsule resistant to the environment of the digestive system and by which it comprises:

at least one light source (4); dividing means (5) configured to divide the light beam from the light source (4) and direct it to the reference arm (6) and the sampling arm (9); an adaptive group delay element (24) according to the distance of the tissue to be analyzed, located in at least one of the arms (6, 9); optical displacement means (7) configured to move the intersection of the light beam (30) of the sampling arm (9) on the tissue to be analyzed; an optical system (8) configured to focus the light beam (30) of the sampling arm (9) on the tissue surface to be analyzed; interfering means (10) configured to produce interference between the reflected light from the reference arms (6) and sampling (9); at least one detector (11) that receives said interference between the light coming from the reference arms (6) and sampling (9); processing means (2) configured to process the information acquired by the detector (11); Feeding means (3) configured to electrically power the pill without physical connection to the outside.

2.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill according to claim 1, characterized in that the adaptive group delay element (24) comprises at least one optical switch (31) choosing one from a plurality of optical paths where said optical paths introduce different group delays and previously set.

3.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the adaptive group delay element (24) interacts with the optical system (8) to jointly adjust the group delay and focus distance.

Four.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises an active element for compensating the chromatic dispersion in at least one of the arms (6, 9), selected from:

photonic crystals; Bragg diffraction networks with variable spacing; waveguide segments whose characteristics cause a dispersion abnormal color.

5.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sampling arms (9) and reference (6) share at least part of the same physical path.

6.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the processing means (2) comprise a storage unit (12) configured to store the information processed by the processing means (2).

7.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the processing means (2) comprise a communication unit (13) configured to send the information processed by the processing means (2) to an external communication device and to receive instructions from said external communications device.

8.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill, according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the optical displacement means (7) comprise electromechanical means configured to move the point of intersection of the light beam (30) with the surface of the tissue to be analyzed.

9.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill, according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a video equipment (14) configured to capture images of the tissue from the environment of the pill.

10.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill according to claim 9, characterized in that the optical system (8) comprises a beam separation system (19) as a function of its wavelength, which directs the wavelength range used by the

optical coherence tomography system towards it and another range of wavelengths towards the video equipment (14).

eleven.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill according to any of claims 9-10, characterized in that it comprises identifying means (15) configured to locate the position of the beam of light coming out of the sampling arm (9) of the optical coherence tomography system in the image obtained by the video equipment (14).

12.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill according to claim 11, characterized in that the identifying means (15) interact with the optical displacement means (7) and with the optical system (8) to orient the position of the beam of light coming out of the sampling arm ( 9) from the instructions received by the external communications device.

13.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill, according to any of claims 9-12, characterized in that the video equipment (14) comprises optical filters according to the wavelength and a complementary light source that allows to capture the fluorescence from the tissue surrounding the pill .

14.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a motion sensor that provides information relative to the movement of the pill.

fifteen.

Gastrointestinal electronic pill according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a position sensor that provides information regarding the position of the pill.